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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28138806">The Best Thing</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/chasesstarlight/pseuds/chasesstarlight'>chasesstarlight</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>folklore - Taylor Swift (Album), folklore: Teenage Love Triangle Trilogy - Taylor Swift</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Friends to Lovers, High School, Jealousy, Love Triangles, Summer Vacation</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 15:26:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,448</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28138806</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/chasesstarlight/pseuds/chasesstarlight</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In a summer to remember, Inez shares a rumor and eventually has an epiphany.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Betty/Inez</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Yuletide 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Best Thing</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/rayguntomyhead/gifts">rayguntomyhead</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p>
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</p><p>When they’d all decided to go to prom as a group of friends, Inez had been incredibly relieved. It just seemed like there would be less pressure around the whole thing. Honestly, it wasn’t really her kind of deal to begin with - she surreptitiously nudged her completely insufferable strapless bra back from where it was slowly twisting sideways for some reason -, but at least the company was pretty decent.</p><p> </p><p>Predictably, while Inez felt like some sort of cotton candy monstrosity in the dress her mom had been incredibly excited to buy her, Betty looked like a freaking movie star. She’d put her hair up, showing off her neck and the cute teardrop earrings Inez had bought her for Christmas. They went well with the fitted, shimmery dark blue dress she was wearing, and Inez had a hard time not staring. She was pretty sure she’d <em> never </em>look that glamorous.</p><p> </p><p>Apparently it still wasn’t enough for James, though. Betty had insisted on bringing him along and Abby had been cool with it, which meant Inez got overruled. Betty had asked her so many times why she didn’t like James, but Inez had never really been able to figure out why, exactly. Usually she’d just shrug and insist “he’s fine”, but Betty didn’t really seem to buy it, and it wasn’t like Inez could go up and say “I don’t think he’s good enough for you”. That would be weird. And kind of preachy and mom-like. But mostly, weird. </p><p> </p><p>So here she was, trying not to roll her eyes too hard at James’ grumpiness while Betty tried to keep the peace. Betty drew him into the corner, trying to talk to him in relative privacy, but he stayed sulky; Inez heard him say “I didn’t want to go anyway”, before he stalked off towards the drinks table at the other end of the gym, disappearing out of sight. </p><p> </p><p>“What did I do?” Betty said when she spots Inez watching, sounding a little plaintive.</p><p> </p><p> Inez shrugged. “He did say it wasn’t his thing, I guess.” </p><p> </p><p>Betty sighed sadly, staring down at the sparkly shoes Inez had helped her pick out when they went shopping for this impending train wreck of a dance. Inez frowned; in honestly, this wasn’t necessarily her thing either, but it <em> was </em>Betty’s. Surely she, at least, should be allowed to have a good time here. </p><p> </p><p>“Hey,” she said, nudging Betty with her shoulder. Betty stumbled for a second, then giggled and nudged Inez with her hip. Inez grinned.</p><p> </p><p>“See that guy over there?” Inez pointed at the guy who’d been glancing at Betty every couple minutes for the past half-hour; she thought he was maybe in Betty’s chemistry class, or something, he looked vaguely familiar. Anyway, cute enough, Inez thought in an abstract sort of way, and he was clearly interested, so Inez gave Betty a nudge.</p><p> </p><p>“What?” Betty whirled around and Inez cracked up. She hoped Betty didn’t have any ambitions of making it as a poker player; she’d be totally screwed. </p><p> </p><p>Well, considering subtlety wasn’t an option, Inez gently spun Betty around and shoved her in the vague direction of Chemistry Boy. (Steve? Stephen? Inez could swear they’d been introduced at some point.) Betty laughed and blushed, and the guy seemed to gather his courage. He stepped up to shyly ask for a dance, and Betty followed him onto the dance floor.</p><p> </p><p>Feeling a little odd all of a sudden, Inez reached for her soda. Before she could even begin to sort her own thoughts out, though, Abby grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her onto the dance floor. </p><p> </p><p>Dancing in the cotton candy travesty wasn’t particularly easy, and Inez was pretty sure she knocked over at least a few innocent bystanders over the course of the night, but somehow something clicked. Something about the cheap disco balls hanging from the basketball hoops and all their classmates dancing in awkwardly-fitting fancy clothes seemed like a perfect way to kick off the summer. </p><p> </p><p>Inez wasn’t even sure how long she danced for, but eventually her new shoes started actually cutting off the circulation to her toes and she stumbled towards the curtain used to barely hide the gym equipment. She nudged it aside and collapsed on a stack of abandoned gym mats, kicking off her shoes and waving them at her friends when they looked at her in concern.</p><p> </p><p>For a moment, Betty looked like she was about to come over here, but Inez waved her arm in a “no, it’s fine” kind of gesture and flopped backward, watching the lights spin around on the ceiling. Then, she sat back up on her elbows and looked over to see Betty smile back at her. Inez felt very warm all of a sudden and lay back down on the mats.</p><p> </p><p>She didn’t realise until much later she hadn’t seen James at all for the rest of the night.</p><p>
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</p><p>Summer was Inez’ favourite time of year. She didn’t mind school, exactly, but she loved the long, warm days, and working in her auntie’s Eva’s café gave her some easy extra money. She stepped outside onto the little terrace, untangling her sunglasses from her hair and sliding them down onto her face, to clear the cups from one of her tables. The last batch of customers had left a couple of dollar bills stuck under the sugar pot, and she grinned as she pocketed them. She sighed deeply, enjoying the sun on her skin for a moment, before picking up her tray and walking back inside. </p><p> </p><p>“Hey, sweetie,” Eva said from behind the espresso machine. “Could you go check on the croissants? They might be done, but this thing and I,” she glared at the machine, “need to have <em>words</em> first.” </p><p> </p><p>An angry-looking jet of steam shot out from the machine, and Eva muttered something Inez’ mom would ground her for in response. Choosing the better part of valor, Inez fled into the kitchen.</p><p> </p><p>It smelled amazing in here. Inez was kind of whatever on the coffee smell so many of their customers raved about, but the smell of stuff baking? Oh yes. Her stomach growled; probably it was about time for her to take a break soon, anyway. She opened the big oven to take a look, and the big tray of croissants and pains au chocolat looked just about perfect. She opened the oven door fully, fumbling for the oven mitts before pulling out the tray and shoving it onto the cooling rack. They really did look very good.</p><p> </p><p>“Eva?” She said, calling over her shoulder. “Can I have one of these for lunch?” </p><p> </p><p>There was no reply, though Inez could hear voices from the front. A customer, she supposed. She stuck her head around the door to be sure, her mind still on food.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey,” Betty said, smiling brightly. “I’m on my lunch break, thought I’d drop by.”</p><p> </p><p>Inez felt a little flushed, probably still from the ovens, and ran a hand over her forehead. She turned to her aunt, about to ask if she could take her break, and Eva rolled her eyes. She also looked like she was trying not to laugh, though, so she probably wasn’t actually mad.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, go ahead and eat my food, you freeloader. Get something for your friend as well.”</p><p> </p><p>Feeling the sudden urge to skip there, Inez walked back into the kitchen to pick out the two nicest-looking pains au chocolat. In the background, she could hear Betty trying really hard to pay for their food - “No, really! I have a job, I couldn’t just-” and laughed. </p><p> </p><p>“Oh, shush,” Eva said cheerfully. “I’ll take it out of Inez’ wages.” </p><p> </p><p>She always said that, but somehow it never actually came up when Eva carefully calculated Inez’ salary at the end of the week. Inez passed the plates with pastry to Betty and made them some tea and they walked outside. Betty put down the plates onto a table and then slumped theatrically into a chair, stretching out her legs and groaning. </p><p> </p><p>“Why,” Betty said theatrically, “do I do this to myself?” </p><p> </p><p>Inez couldn’t actually reach Betty’s shoulder, but Betty’s mile-long legs mean her foot was next to Inez’ chair, so she patted that instead.</p><p> </p><p>“There there. Cashier duty kicking your butt a bit?” </p><p> </p><p>Betty sighed and stretched. “My feet are killing me. I feel like I should’ve trained for this, or something, so I’d be able to stand still for so long without feeling like my legs are about to fall off.”</p><p> </p><p>“Get less cute sneakers,” Inez suggested, poking at Betty’s shoe with one finger.</p><p> </p><p>Before Betty could reply, though, her cell phone buzzed, and she took a look at it, frowning when she turned on the screen. Inez tilted her head quizzically, absent-mindedly swatting her hand at an overly courageous pigeon that clearly had designs on her pastry. </p><p> </p><p>There was a brief pause, and then Betty said, “it’s James.”</p><p> </p><p>Inez fought the urge to roll her eyes at the name. <em> Sympathy, dammit. </em> “What’s wrong? Are you guys fighting or something?”</p><p> </p><p>“It’s not even that,” Betty said, sounding genuinely distraught. “He’s ignoring me completely, and he’s at his family’s place on the coast now, so it’s not like I can just go over there and see what’s going on with him.”</p><p> </p><p>His loss, Inez thought. She carefully schooled her expression and said, “well, I’m gonna be in the area from next week, right? Visiting my grandparents? I can keep an eye out and, like, yell at him for you, if it’ll help.”</p><p> </p><p>Betty lit up, and Inez suddenly felt bad for her internal monologue. “That’d be so great! I mean, don’t actually go yell at him, just. Ask him what’s going on if you see him?”</p><p> </p><p>“Aw,” Inez said, unable to stop herself. “Not even a little? What are your thoughts on chucking him off the pier?”</p><p> </p><p>Betty giggled and kicked Inez in the calf. “Less planning murders and more eating, if I’m not back at the grocery store in fifteen minutes I’m gonna get fired.”</p><p> </p><p>“You never let me have any fun,” Inez said, smiling. </p><p> </p><p>Betty’s expression softened. “You’re a terrible liar.” She pushed her chair back and stood up, holding out a hand.</p><p> </p><p>“C’mon,” she said, squeezing Inez’ hand as she helped her up. “Back to work.”</p><p>
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</p><p>“Inez?” Her little sister Carmen asked. “Did you hear me?” </p><p> </p><p>Inez blinked, trying to remember what Carmen had been saying. It was so warm in their grandparents’ backyard, the sea breeze being blocked out by the overgrown hedge, that she’d started to doze off a little. For a second, she wracked her brain, then she gave up.</p><p> </p><p>“Sorry, Car, what?”</p><p> </p><p>Carmen rolled her eyes, all thirteen-year-old sass. Inez remembered her being a lot cuter a year or two ago, and then puberty hit and she turned into some kind of demon. </p><p> </p><p>“I’m gonna take that as a yes,” Carmen said, tucking her cell phone into her pocket. She turned towards the house and called, “Grandma?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes?” A voice came from one of the upper floors.</p><p> </p><p>“Inez and I are going to the mall for a bit, okay? Can we borrow the car?”</p><p> </p><p>Footsteps slowly came down the stairs, and their grandmother stuck her head around the corner. </p><p> </p><p>“Sure, hon,” she said. There were some clinking noises in the background, and then Inez was handed a set of keys. “Drive safe, okay? And be home by seven, please, so we can have dinner.”</p><p> </p><p>“Thanks, grandma,” Carmen said, with all the sunny sweetness Inez never really saw anymore. Either Carmen was playing it up blatantly, or she just specifically liked annoying Inez. Either seemed plausible enough. </p><p> </p><p>“C’mon, hellspawn,” Inez said, ignoring Carmen’s immediate glare. “Let’s go and get… whatever it is that you need so badly, I guess.” She walked out to the front and pointed the keys at her grandparents’ equally elderly oversized Chevy pick-up, and was pleasantly surprised when it actually unlocked on the first try. She did enjoy driving this car, even if the sheer size of it always kind of made her feel like she was driving an aircraft carrier.</p><p> </p><p>“C’mon, you,” she said, opening the passenger door and holding out a hand to help Carmen in. Really, she was so tiny she should maybe get a stepladder. Carmen almost wrenched Inez’ arm out of the socket as she stumbled trying to climb up. “Let’s get this battleship to the mall.”</p><p> </p><p>Carmen giggled, then seemed to catch herself and looked carefully disinterested. Inez tried not to laugh - she remembered being thirteen and trying extremely hard to look cool at all times, and seeing her sister do the same thing was kind of nostalgic.</p><p> </p><p>“What did you need, anyway? You were a bit vague to gramps and grandma.”</p><p> </p><p>“Just. Stuff,” Carmen said, a little cagily. “I need to stop by, like, CVS or something. And also, there’s air con in there.”</p><p> </p><p>Inez couldn’t actually argue with that, she thought. The truck had been in the sun for a while, and she felt a little like she’d crawled into one of her aunt’s ovens. She rolled the window down - this car was way too ancient to have automatic windows - and fruitlessly fanned herself with one hand. The breeze that came in while she was driving helped a little, but it was still hot enough that when they got to the mall parking lot, Inez scanned frantically for, like, a tree or something to park the car under. </p><p> </p><p>There was a bit of shade near the building itself, so Inez carefully parked the car there, hoping they wouldn’t get slow-roasted on the way back. Carmen hopped out as soon as she’d pulled into the spot, but Inez took a moment to park a bit more neatly. When she opened the door and stepped outside, she heard a familiar voice, followed by a feminine laugh she didn’t recognise. Squinting against the bright sunlight, she looked up.</p><p> </p><p>Of all people, James was there. And he was… with someone. Someone pretty, maybe a year or two older than they were, dark hair and sun-tanned skin. For a moment, Inez desperately hoped she was just a friend of him, or maybe a far better-looking relative, but then James kissed her and Inez just stared in shock.</p><p> </p><p><em> This </em> was what he’d been doing while he’d been ignoring Betty? <em> Idiot. </em></p><p> </p><p>“Inez,” Carmen said, walking around the car to tug at her wrist. “Has your brain melted or something? Let’s go already.”</p><p> </p><p>James looked up and caught Inez’ eye, and they just blinked at each other for a moment. Then, Inez turned to walk towards the mall. Carmen seemed confused, though Inez had a hard time figuring out how to explain, so she just ignored it for now while she got her thoughts in order.</p><p>
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</p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>She had to tell Betty, Inez thought, sitting on the guest room balcony. She’d been sitting there a while, actually; it was late enough that the moon had come out, and she could hear cicadas chirping away. It was a balmy evening, and the air conditioning in the house was erratic enough that she’d take the mosquito risk for the sake of a little fresh air.</p><p> </p><p>It hadn’t helped motivate her to get a hold of Betty already, though. It was going to suck, probably. Inez could take or leave whatsisface, but Betty would probably be sad, and that was bad. </p><p> </p><p>Inez considered for a few moments - hours - how to handle this. A text seemed to glib, an email kind of bizarrely formal, so maybe she had to do the old-fashioned thing and actually, like, call Betty’s number. Her finger hovered over the contact for a moment, then she put her phone back down and went inside. To get a glass of water, obviously. Definitely not to procrastinate.</p><p> </p><p>Mentally slapping herself, Inez went back outside, grabbed her phone, and dialled before she could stop herself. </p><p> </p><p>Betty picked up within three seconds; probably had her phone on her. “Hey, everything okay? Did you run out of texts on your plan, or something?” She said, voice light.</p><p> </p><p>When Inez didn’t initially reply, Betty spoke again, sounding more serious this time. “Inez? Are you okay?”</p><p> </p><p>Inez took a deep breath. “I’m fine, but. Do you remember telling me to let you know if I knew anything about what James has been up to?”</p><p> </p><p>She heard footsteps and then a thud on the other end of the line - Betty walking over and sitting down on her bed, if Inez had to guess. “Yeah, did you run into him?” She sounded apprehensive, and it made Inez feel even worse. She mentally steeled herself.</p><p> </p><p>“I did, yes. He wasn’t by himself, though. There was this other girl?”</p><p> </p><p>“Did you recognise her? Like, you’ve met his sister, right? Was it her?”</p><p> </p><p>Inez bit her lip. “No, definitely not, things would’ve gone a bit Game of Thrones if that had been the case.” </p><p> </p><p>“What are you saying?”</p><p> </p><p>“Look,” Inez said. “I saw him kiss this girl in the mall parking lot. It didn’t look, I don’t know, friendly or familial.”</p><p> </p><p>There was a long silence over the end of the line. After about a minute Inez asked, “Betty? Are you still there?”</p><p> </p><p>“Are you sure?” Betty said, sounding a little lost. “They couldn’t have been hugging or something?”</p><p> </p><p>“Look,” Inez said, getting a little frustrated. “I know what I saw. He was ten feet away from me. It wasn’t anybody or anything else. I’m sorry but it’s the truth.”</p><p> </p><p>“No you’re not,” Betty said, sounding upset. </p><p> </p><p>What? “What are you talking about?” Inez asked, feeling like she couldn’t breathe all of a sudden.</p><p> </p><p>“You’re not sorry, you never liked him,” Betty said. Inez wasn’t sure if she sounded angry or near tears.</p><p> </p><p>Inez swallowed hard before replying. “That’s not true!”</p><p> </p><p>“You’re a terrible liar,” Betty muttered. “Look, I’ve got to go. Bye.”</p><p> </p><p>Wait, what? “Oh come on, don’t-” Before Inez could finish her sentence, Betty had hung up the phone. </p><p> </p><p>When Inez tried calling back, Betty didn’t answer.</p><p>
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</p><p>This week freaking sucked. </p><p> </p><p>Inez had spent most of her time at the beach, which she normally really liked, but she just couldn’t get any joy out of it right now. Betty hadn’t tried calling her back and Inez hadn’t been able to bring herself to try - better to hold off and not talk than to try and actually get turned down, she figured. She felt like that'd be way worse</p><p>She had seen James and this girl around a few times - wandering around the pier, on the beach, or near the mall. Part of her had wanted to snap some pictures or something to send to Betty, to prove that she wasn’t making anything up, but that seemed overly petty and maybe a little creepy, so. Instead, she sat around on the beach, trying to read a novel but not really taking in a word. </p><p> </p><p>Her grandparents had asked whether she was having “boy problems,” which just made her want to throw something. Probably that  just made them even more convinced and they were trying to be all nice and supportive, but somehow it managed to annoy her even more. Carmen seemed to notice something serious was up - she’s actually toned town the attitude in the past few days - but her clumsy attempts to get Inez to talk about it just weren’t going to work. There was nothing to talk about. Inez just wanted some peace and quiet, so being in a secluded little corner of the beach, with only seagulls for company, sounded good.</p><p> </p><p>At least the seagulls only wanted to share her chips instead of her feelings.</p><p> </p><p>She had no idea what she’d do when her mom would stop by to pick up her and Carmen in two days. Going home would make it a lot harder to explain why she and Betty weren’t really talking, but it wasn’t like she could stay here forever, tempting though it may be.</p><p> </p><p>An enterprising seagull snuck towards her bag of chips, and Inez half-heartedly flailed at it to get it to scram.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey,” she told it. “No stealing. Unless you have any good advice, I guess, then you can have one as payment.”</p><p> </p><p>The seagull just stared at her, with that slightly mad expression they all seemed to have, before screeching and flying off. </p><p> </p><p>“Guess not,” she said, slumping backwards to lie down in the sand. Some of it trickled down into the collar of her T-shirt and she irritably swiped at it, trying to get rid of the itch, when she noticed a shadow falling over her.</p><p> </p><p>When she looked up, the girl she’d seen with James was standing next to her.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey,” the stranger said. She really was very beautiful, though Inez still couldn’t understand why James would be such an asshole to Betty over her.</p><p> </p><p>Inez blinked up at her. “Can I sit down?” The girl asked. “I was hoping to talk to you.”</p><p> </p><p>“Um,” Inez said, immediately annoyed with herself for sounding like an idiot. “Sure?”</p><p> </p><p>“Thank you,” the girl said, sitting down and folding the skirt of her sundress under her. Inez suddenly felt a bit frumpy in her shorts and T-shirt. </p><p> </p><p>She was quiet for a while, to the extent that Inez had to fight not to fidget. Her fingers were itching to draw in the sand, or something, when the girl spoke up again.</p><p> </p><p>“You know James, don’t you?”</p><p> </p><p>Inez stared down at her hands, picking at the sand under her fingernails. “I guess, a little. It’s more my friend does, though.”</p><p> </p><p>The girl stared down at the sand. “Your friend - she’s with him, right?”</p><p> </p><p>“She shouldn’t be, she deserves way better,” Inez bit out, suddenly angry. The other girl looked up at her, considering for a moment before reaching some sort of understanding; Inez saw her expression soften. She wasn't sure what that was about.</p><p> </p><p>“We had a fight,” Inez said, not sure why she suddenly blurted that out. “I tried to tell her about, you know, you guys, and now we’re not talking.”</p><p> </p><p>The other girl tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear, the movement effortlessly elegant. “If it makes you feel better,” she said, “I don’t think it’s actually you she’s mad at.”</p><p> </p><p>“Whatever,” Inez grumbled. “It’s his fault, but she still won’t just get over him already.”</p><p> </p><p>“If only it were that easy,” the other girl said, and the waver in her voice cut through the maelstrom of Inez’ own emotions. When Inez looked up, she looked genuinely distraught. </p><p> </p><p>“I’d heard he was seeing someone, you know,” the other girl said. “Yeah, I know, I’m a terrible person and all, but I loved him, and I thought… I don’t know what I thought, exactly. I <em> hoped.</em>” She paused for a moment. “You probably understand that, at least a little.”</p><p> </p><p>“What?” Inez asked, bewildered. </p><p> </p><p>“Never mind,” she replied, smiling gently. “James is leaving tomorrow, and I doubt we’ll see each other again. So much for summer love, right?” She stood up, brushing the sand off her dress and taking a few steps away.</p><p> </p><p>“Wait,” Inez blurted out. “What did you want to talk about?”</p><p> </p><p>The other girl turned towards her, tilting her head. </p><p> </p><p>“Tell your friend I’m sorry, when you talk to her.” </p><p> </p><p>Inez nodded. The girl walked away through the sand, shoes in her hand and silhouetted by the sunlight behind her.</p><p>
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</p><p>By now, everyone had sort of started leaving her alone. It was their last day on the coast, though, and she really, really wasn’t looking forward to the long drive back, in the car with her mom and Inez, probably having to explain what had happened. </p><p> </p><p>She’d made an effort to be cheerful and perky for the barbecue her grandparents always threw on the last night she and Carmen were here, and she hoped she’d done a good enough job. It really wasn’t their fault her life had completely imploded while she happened to be in their house, after all. Once dinner had wrapped up, though, she’d claimed a headache and crept upstairs, looking out at the fields behind the house and the dunes behind those without really taking them in. It was a little after sunset by now, the few clouds there were in the sky tinged with pinks and oranges, and the sea breeze cooled the air down a little. </p><p> </p><p>When the doorbell rang, Inez startled. She figured it was someone who needed to see her grandma or grandpa, though, so she didn’t move and just let them open it. She heard footsteps downstairs - too light, probably Carmen - and then the door opened and Carmen said, “Hi! Come on in.”</p><p> </p><p>Inez couldn’t quite hear the response, but the voice sounded familiar, and she felt her heart pick up like someone just revved its engine or something. </p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, she’s upstairs,” Carmen said. A few seconds later, Inez could hear footsteps going up the stairs, coming closer and closer, until there was a knock on her door.</p><p> </p><p>“Can I come in?” Betty asked, sounding uncertain.</p><p> </p><p>Inez swallowed, then got up from her bed and opened the door.</p><p> </p><p>For the first few seconds, they just stared at each other, probably waiting for the other to speak. Then, they started at the same time.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m sorry I didn’t call you-”</p><p> </p><p>“I shouldn’t have gotten mad-”</p><p> </p><p>They stopped and laughed. There were noises coming from downstairs, though, which made Inez pause for a second. She was pretty sure Carmen was listening in from the stairwell; the girl was terminally nosy. </p><p> </p><p>“C’mon,” Inez said, grabbing her keys and bag. “Let’s go somewhere we have a little more privacy to talk.”</p><p> </p><p>She led Betty outside, along the path through the fields and down to her favourite corner of the beach. Betty lit up when she saw the bay, walking up to the water and kicking off her sandals to walk into the surf.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s gorgeous here,” she said, turning back to Inez. “Look at the lights on the water!” </p><p> </p><p>Inez was kind of used to it by now, but looking at Betty’s reaction, the city lights on the other side of the bay being reflected in the water really did look rather pretty. She slipped out of her flip-flops, feeling the cooling sand between her toes, before sitting down. Betty seemed to catch herself and tore herself away from the sea, walking over to sit next to her. </p><p> </p><p>“I’m sorry,” Betty said. “I should’ve believed you instead of arguing.”</p><p> </p><p>Inez bit her lip. “Curse of the messenger, I guess.”</p><p> </p><p>Betty leaned against her. “Seriously. I didn’t want you to be right, so I just argued based on nothing at all. Like an idiot.” </p><p> </p><p>Inez bumped Betty’s shoulder with hers. “I already knew you were an idiot,” she said, smiling. Betty felt very warm against her, and when she leaned her head against Inez’ shoulder, the strands of hair tickling Inez’ shoulder were very soft. </p><p> </p><p>“How did you even get here?” Inez asked. </p><p> </p><p>“I texted your sister for the address,” Betty said. “Then, two buses, and an Uber for the last bit. I was pretty scared my phone battery was gonna run out, this place is in the middle of nowhere.” She stifled a yawn behind her hand. It would’ve been a long trip, Inez thought; she’d not made it by public transport before, but Betty looked all kinds of disheveled and tired.</p><p> </p><p>“I should’ve just called you back,” Inez said, feeling a little sheepish.</p><p> </p><p>Betty shrugged. “Eh, worth it to see this place. You talk about it a lot, you know? I’d never been, but it looks like it was worth the trip.” </p><p> </p><p>“Want to go for a swim?” Inez asked, not entirely serious.</p><p> </p><p>“Tomorrow maybe,” Betty said, after clearly genuinely considering it for a moment. “Um. Can I sleep on your couch, or something?”</p><p> </p><p>“No,” Inez deadpanned. “We’re putting you on the overnight bus back.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Mean.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Revenge,” Inez said jokingly. “No. <em>Rightful punishment</em>.” </p><p> </p><p>She felt Betty laugh against her collarbone, before she slumped a little more. For a few moments, they were quiet; Inez just took in the sea breeze and the feeling of Betty next to her, before Betty asked, “Why do you hate James so much?”</p><p> </p><p>Inez sighed. “I don’t.” She was pretty sure she felt Betty get ready to argue, but before she could get around to it, Inez continued, “I just don’t think he’s… You can do way better, is all.”</p><p> </p><p>Betty made a vague noise that Inez couldn’t tell was agreement or not.</p><p> </p><p>“I was way more upset that we were fighting than that he was with some other girl,” Betty mumbled. “Probably a bad sign, right?”</p><p> </p><p>Inez suddenly felt very warm. Her arm tightened almost involuntarily around Betty, and she tried not to grin too much, even though it was getting dark enough that Betty probably wouldn’t be able to see anyway. </p><p> </p><p>“Sign of good taste, more like.” </p><p> </p><p>Betty snorted softly and closed her eyes. Not thirty seconds later, she started snoring softly, and Inez smiled and leaned her cheek against Betty’s head. Without thinking about it, she pressed a kiss to Betty’s forehead, then stopped.</p><p> </p><p>An image of her kissing Betty on the lips appeared inexorably in her mind in full HD, and it simultaneously felt like a brilliant idea and like the worst disaster ever.</p><p> </p><p>Oh, <em>no</em>. She did not need this amount of complicated in her life.</p><p>
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</p><p>Betty was still a little groggy on the drive home the next morning, Inez could tell. Which was fair, honestly - she had offered to take the couch herself and give Betty her bed, but Betty had refused despite the fact that her legs hung off the edge by a good foot or so. She’d slept curled up like a cat, which was admittedly quite cute, but probably not the most comfortable option - when Inez’ alarm went off, it also woke Betty, and she flailed in the direction of the noise with a total lack of coordination. </p><p> </p><p>(They’d initially tried sharing Inez’ twin bed, but even aside from the fact that Inez was blushing the whole time, Betty had half-fallen off the first time one of them moved. The bed was scaled for a much younger Inez, sadly.)</p><p> </p><p>Inez hadn’t really slept very well, either, but she didn’t have a horrible couch to blame. She was just too lost in her thoughts, and too distracted by Betty sleeping just a couple of feet away. She had no idea what she was going to do - if she had to be honest with herself, liking Betty wasn’t actually a massive surprise at all, but, well. The lack of an actual chance to get anywhere did kind of suck. As far as she knew, Betty was straight, she’d only ever talked about boys in that way, so there was really no point in doing anything about it.</p><p> </p><p>She’d get over it, she figured, and pulled out her phone to mindlessly scroll through instagram for a few minutes. Next to her, Betty was napping, her head resting against the car window, and Inez had a hard time not constantly shooting glances.</p><p> </p><p>“You’re so obvious,” said Carmen, from the other side of her. </p><p> </p><p>Inez turned towards her. “What now?”</p><p> </p><p>Carmen rolled her eyes. “You’ve got it <em>bad</em>. Aren’t you supposed to be, like, the experienced, older one? How do you not know what the hell you’re doing?” Her voice rose a little on the end of the sentence, and she saw her mom glare at them in the rear-view mirror at the language. </p><p> </p><p>More quietly, Carmen said, “Seriously. Get it together.” </p><p> </p><p>Inez’ face felt like it was on fire. “It’s none of your business.”</p><p> </p><p>“Alright,” Carmen said, shrugging and turning back to her phone, probably to complain to her friends about her idiot sister. </p><p> </p><p>Leaning back into the headrest, Inez let her eyes drift to the outside. The roads were starting to look a lot more familiar; they weren’t far from home, she was pretty sure. They’d drop Betty home - her parents had been totally unruffled by her sudden appearance - and then they’d get back to their house and get ready for school to start again. To start senior year, it hit Inez suddenly. Next time they did this, she’d have <em> graduated</em>. And then who knew where they’d all end up. She bit her lip and glanced at Betty, who stirred and stretched a little.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey,” she said, voice sleepy. “What’re you looking so thoughtful for?”</p><p> </p><p>Inez smiled wryly. “Just thinking, this time next year we’ll be graduated. Off to college, and everything. Isn’t that crazy?”</p><p> </p><p>Betty nudged her with her foot. “You’re thinking way ahead. Let’s try and survive the school year first, yeah?”</p><p> </p><p>Inez shrugged. </p><p> </p><p>With a frown, Betty said, “I think I might switch my homeroom. I just… really don’t want to deal with James right now, I think.”</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, you might end up in mine,” Inez suggested hopefully. “We’ve not been in the same one since junior high.”</p><p> </p><p>Betty smiled. “That’d be nice, yeah.”</p><p> </p><p>They were quiet for a while, just peacefully watching the miles stretch out ahead and behind them, and then Betty continued, “I’m pretty sure he’ll try and get back together, you know.”</p><p> </p><p>Inez hoped the sudden nausea didn’t show up on her face. “Yeah?”</p><p> </p><p>“Once we’re back next week and his exciting summer thing is in the past,” she said quietly, sounding more cutting than Inez thought she’d ever heard her. “I kind of hope I’m wrong, but I know him.”</p><p> </p><p>“What are you gonna do?” Inez asked, nerves buzzing through her body like a nest of hornets.</p><p> </p><p>Betty sighed. “I dunno,” she said. “I don’t really want to think about it right now. Oh hey,” she continued in a much more enthusiastic voice. “I’m planning to throw a party on the Friday of the first week of school, so we have a fun start and stuff. You can make it, right?”</p><p> </p><p>“Course, sounds good,” Inez said. </p><p> </p><p>By now, the car had made it to streets Inez had definitely recognised. Her mom cut into the conversation to asks Betty for exact directions to her house, and Betty was distracted by playing sat nav for a while.</p><p> </p><p>Inez sat back and tried to mentally prepare herself for the upcoming school year.</p><p>
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</p><p> </p><p>Betty threw pretty good parties, Inez thought. Their house was pretty big, with a patio and a huge garden, and even in September it was still plenty warm enough that they could all hang out outside. Betty’s parents had put their foot down about cooking for like twenty people, so everyone had pitched in for pizza, which they were all eating on the patio. Some of the guys from Inez’ drama class had already tired of pizza and were roasting marshmallows over the cast-iron firepit, and Inez was pretty tempted to go join them - her sweet tooth was calling. Just as she was getting up to walk over, though, the doorbell rang, so she figured she might as well go see who it is.</p><p> </p><p>She walked through the (absurdly long, honestly) hallway to the spacious foyer and opened the door.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey,” James said. “Can I talk to Betty?” </p><p> </p><p>“What the hell are you doing here? You have some nerve,” Inez said, glaring at him. </p><p> </p><p>James folded his arms. “Look, I know you’re mad at me, but this isn’t about you,” he said.</p><p> </p><p>“You hurt my friend, of course I’m mad at you,” Inez said, trying not to outright yell at him and only partway succeeding. “Get out, you weren’t invited.”</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly, there was a hand on her shoulder. When Inez glanced back, Betty was looking at her very seriously.</p><p> </p><p>“Could you give us a moment, Inez?” She asked, sounding very calm. </p><p> </p><p>“But-” Inez started, but then Betty looked at her pleadingly, and she couldn’t really say no to that.</p><p> </p><p>She walked back through the house to the patio, and down the steps to walk into the garden. She needed a minute, and a little privacy. She walked through the garden, absent-mindedly brushing her hand along the leaves of the willow planted next to the path; it was large enough that it was getting close to blocking the way, and she gently nudged the branches aside so she could pass more easily.</p><p> </p><p>The tree did mean she was harder to see here, though. She walked over to the little shed behind the tree, which had a bench on its little porch. She sat down heavily there, hidden from view by the shed and the green in the garden, and tried not to panic, or cry, or run back through the house and slap James in the face, or something. Really, she was usually much calmer than this; something about this situation had just set all her nerves on edge. To keep from biting at her nails, she reached out to the hanging plant on the ledge above her, its leaves trailing along the backrest of the bench. She half-heartedly braided the branches just to have something to do with her hands, until she felt someone sit down next to her.</p><p> </p><p>“Does the eucalyptus need a new hairstyle?” Betty asked, amused.</p><p> </p><p>Inez didn’t reply, just finished the braid and, careful not to bruise any of the leaves, loosely tied  the spare hair tie around her wrist around the end.</p><p> </p><p>“I told him to leave, you know,” Betty said, and when Inez looked up, she was struck by how nervous Betty looked, all wide eyes and fidgeting fingers.</p><p> </p><p>“I hope he said sorry,” Inez replied. </p><p> </p><p>Betty shrugged. “I know he is, and I figured he’d try some sort of grand gesture. His summer girl ditched him too, I think.”</p><p> </p><p>With a sigh, Inez said, “Well, that’s something, I guess.”</p><p> </p><p>“I stopped caring,” Betty said, sounding like she was bracing herself for something. “I talked to her, you know?  The other girl. And she mentioned something to me.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Oh, god.  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t believe a word she says,” Inez blurted. “She’s probably trying to, like, deflect, or whatever, who even knows what she made up-” </p><p> </p><p>Betty reached out to take her hand. It was shaking a little, but so was Inez’, so that was okay. </p><p> </p><p>“You were right,” Betty said, looking equal parts nervous and hopeful. “I can do better? Maybe?” </p><p> </p><p>Well, that’s as good a cue as she was ever going to get. Inez leaned in and pressed a careful, hesitant kiss to Betty’s lips. It was a little awkward, but also somehow pretty freaking perfect. Betty leaned her forehead against hers and grinned widely, before going in for a slower, deeper kiss.</p><p> </p><p>Inez kind of lost track of, well, everything after that, but that was fine. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
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